Material vs Material Design In XAML Toolkit
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A Swift UI framework for iOS apps with Material Design-style components and animations.
Open source · MIT
Material Design styles and controls for building Windows desktop apps (WPF) in C# or VB.Net.
The short answer
Choose Material if you need…
- iOS developers who want Material Design-style components without building them from scratch
- Developers maintaining existing Swift projects that already use Material
- Projects that need Material's card, text field, or navigation drawer components
Choose Material Design In XAML Toolkit if you need…
- Developers building Windows desktop apps with WPF
- Teams that want a Material Design look without writing styles from scratch
- Projects that already use Dragablz or MahApps, which the README says are compatible
Side-by-side
| Material | Material Design In XAML Toolkit | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 12k | 16.3k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Swift | C# |
| Last code update | 4 years ago | 4 days ago |
What each one is
Material
Material is a UI/UX framework for building iOS apps in Swift. It provides ready-made interface components such as cards, text fields, navigation drawers, toolbars, and floating action menus, styled after Google's Material Design look. It also uses the separate Motion library to handle animations and transitions.
Material Design In XAML Toolkit
This is a library of ready-made visual styles and controls that make Windows desktop apps built with WPF look like Google's Material Design. It adds themed buttons, cards, dialogs, and an icon pack, and lets you change the color palette at design time or while the app runs. Developers add it to a WPF project through NuGet.
Best for
Material
- iOS developers who want Material Design-style components without building them from scratch
- Developers maintaining existing Swift projects that already use Material
- Projects that need Material's card, text field, or navigation drawer components
Material Design In XAML Toolkit
- Developers building Windows desktop apps with WPF
- Teams that want a Material Design look without writing styles from scratch
- Projects that already use Dragablz or MahApps, which the README says are compatible
Strengths
Material
- Covers many common components (cards, drawers, tabs, search bar, snackbar) in one package
- Includes sample projects in a separate repository to learn from
- MIT license permits use in commercial projects
Material Design In XAML Toolkit
- Covers the standard WPF controls with Material Design styles, according to the README
- Includes a full Material Design Icons pack and demo applications in the source
- Installs through NuGet and is released under the MIT license
Not ideal for
Material
- Teams starting a new app today, since the README lists iOS 8.0+ and Swift 4.0+ and the last push was in May 2022
- Android or cross-platform projects, since this is iOS-only
- Developers who need SwiftUI support, which the README does not mention
Material Design In XAML Toolkit
- Web or mobile developers, since it only targets Windows desktop (WPF) according to the README
- Anyone who needs to stay on older Visual Studio versions, because the guide assumes Visual Studio 2022
- Projects that depend on the internal namespace staying stable, because the README warns those types may change between versions
Trade-offs
Material
- The README targets old tooling (iOS 8.0+, Xcode 8.0+) and the last push is from 2022
- Documentation is mostly sample links and GIFs; the README gives little API detail
- The latest release lists no binaries, so you install through a dependency manager or by copying source
Material Design In XAML Toolkit
- Windows desktop only; it does not apply to web or mobile apps
- The README says the Material Design 3 demo is still under development
- Types in the internal namespace are not guaranteed to stay compatible between versions
Getting started
Material
Install CocoaPods
gem install cocoapodsInstall the pod (after adding pod 'Material', '~> 3.1.0' to your Podfile)
pod installMaterial Design In XAML Toolkit
Install the NuGet package from the Package Manager Console
Install-Package MaterialDesignThemesFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Material and Material Design In XAML Toolkit?
Material: A Swift UI framework for iOS apps with Material Design-style components and animations. Material Design In XAML Toolkit: Material Design styles and controls for building Windows desktop apps (WPF) in C# or VB.Net. Material suits ios developers who want material design-style components without building them from scratch, while Material Design In XAML Toolkit suits developers building windows desktop apps with wpf.
Are Material and Material Design In XAML Toolkit free?
Material: Free and open source. Material Design In XAML Toolkit: Free and open source.
Is Material or Material Design In XAML Toolkit more popular?
Material Design In XAML Toolkit has more GitHub stars (16.3k) than Material (12k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Material and Material Design In XAML Toolkit?
Other options people compare them with include SnapKit, Motion, Materialize, RAMAnimatedTabBarController, FoldingCell.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.